[note 1] The ship provided valuable ocean-bottom, particularly seismic profile, information and underwater test data to the U.S. Navy and other U.S. agencies.

Robert D. Conrad (AGOR-3) was laid down in January 1961 by Gibbs Shipyards, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida; launched on 26 May 1962; sponsored by Mrs. Edmund B. Taylor; and completed and delivered to the Navy in November 1962.

[1] After delivery, the single screw, diesel-electric, oceanographic research ship, Robert D. Conrad, was assigned to the then Lamont Geological Observatory, Columbia University, for operation.

[2] Complete with wet and dry laboratories, scientific and chart room, photo laboratory, scientific drafting room, a machine shop, two 24" diameter tubes along the centerline for lowering instruments, and a retractable propeller in the bow to maintain position while working with equipment over the side, Robert D. Conrad worked for the Observatory (renamed the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory in 1993) for her entire career.

The data supported the early definition of seafloor spreading with Robert D. Conrad becoming the second ship, after Vema, to collect over one million nautical miles of oceanographic research.